Various water-feeding devices for animals have been proposed which include a spring biased tiltable valve of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,955. While these known devices have been satisfactory for their intended purpose, they have been subject to certain disadvantages. For instance, in those devices having a plastic valve seat supported on a shoulder formed in the bore of the valve housing, it has been found that under freezing ambient conditions the device tends to expand resulting in the seat being dislodged from its operative position.
In those devices which included a removal orifice plate in the inlet portion to adapt the device to the actual water pressure, it was necessary to maintain a supply of various orifice plates which would be selectively mounted in the valve housing.
Furthermore, in order to disassemble the known watering devices, it was necessary to individually disconnect a plurality of the valve components from the valve housing.
To overcome the above-noted disadvantages in known animal water-feeding devices, the nipple waterer of the present invention has been devised which includes a stainless steel washer mounted in an annular groove formed in the bore of the valve housing adjacent the plastic valve seat whereby the seat is prevented from being dislodged during the expansion of the valve under freezing conditions. The inlet of the waterer is provided with an adjustable orifice to preclude the necessity of keeping a plurality of orifice plates on hand, and a retaining ring mounted in the inlet of the waterer holds the various components of the waterer in operative position so that when it is necessary to either clean or replace a component, the removal of the retaining ring permits the various components of the waterer to be easily removed from the valve housing.